Love will never cease!!!

Aditya, my five-year old son, has always been the centre of our attention in my family. Being the only child in the family, he is immensely loved by all of us. Hence, when I was expecting my second child, I always feared that Adi would feel threatened with the arrival of the new baby. I didn't want the feeling of displacement to take roots in his heart. Neither, could I expect him to show instant affection for his future sibling immediately after the birth of the baby. So, I knew that I would have to prepare him gradually.


For this challenging journey, books came to my rescue. While I was two-months pregnant, I purchased a very popular book on pregnancy, not only to whet my knowledge on pregnancy but also to break the good news to Adi. This book had beautiful pictures depicting week-by-week development of a foetus. I ensured that I read the book in Adi's presence. And as I had anticipated, those beautiful foetal pictures caught Adi's eye and he deluged me with questions such as "What are these pictures about?", "Why was I reading this book?", etc. In the process of answering his questions, I easily divulged the news to him. We continued our Q&A sessions all throughout my pregnancy, while assuring him that he is and will always be the apple of my eye.


My excitement and love for the baby always traversed to Adi each time I spoke to him about the baby. Adi also expressed his love and affection for the baby through his voice and eyes. And, this always gave me a feeling of contentment.


Finally, when I made my visit to the hospital to welcome my new bundle of joy, Adi's happiness knew no bounds. He was super excited and eagerly awaited our return from the hospital. Destiny too was in our favour and my hospital stay did not exceed three days in spite of a caesarean delivery. Adi and my parents welcomed us with loads of kisses and affection.


With each passing day, Adi enthusiastically helps me in small tasks such as changing the baby's nappy, applying powder or bathing him. Now my baby (Yash) is three months old and yet Adi does not cease to shower his love and care on his little brother.

As Adi has always been a very talkative and an outgoing child, I used these traits to my advantage. All through the nine months, I inculcated the habit of talking to the baby daily. Simple gestures such as "Good morning, baby", "How are you, baby?", "I love you" or even giving daily updates about his school to the baby worked wonders for us. Till date, we have been religiously carrying out this ritual. At times, Adi even goes to the extent of reading out his Balbharti lessons to his little brother.


Today, when I look back at my second journey of motherhood, I feel very proud, not only for nurturing a new life but also for nurturing the feeling of love for a sibling in Adi's heart.

Parenting Woes

They say that becoming a mother is one of the most blissful event in a woman's life. From my personal experience, I would surely agree to it. It was one of the most joyous and beautiful experience when I held my son, Aditya, in my arms for the first time. That day, I made a secret promise to myself that come what may, I'll strive hard to ensure that Adi enjoys all that life has in store for him. However, it never ever crossed my mind that parenting can be very challenging. So far, I've managed to stick to my promise; however it has not been a cakewalk either.

To cite a recent example, Adi's school announced a fancy dress competition. The school decided to have no mercy on parents and hence made the competition compulsory. When I read the competition notification that the school had circulated, I was shocked. The circular clearly stated that the theme of the competition is "Vegetables". Reading that line gave me a feeling that my life is jinxed. Everything in my life seemed to revolve around vegetables. For example, an earnest non-vegetarian like me happened to fall in love with a hard-core vegetarian. And now this competition was all set to add to my miseries. Anyways, it was Adi's suggestion only that he would like to become a Brinjal. I was impressed with the three-year old's enthusiasm and thinking ability. But the actual challenge for me was to design a costume. After a day's long consultation with my family members and research on the internet during office hours, I managed to find a very beautiful costume design.

That evening after office, I shopped for all the required materials. However, after an exhausting day at work, I decided to make the costume the next day. But my three year old brat had no patience and insisted that I make the costume immediately. Seeing the excitement in his eyes, I had no courage to disappoint him. Finally, after three hours of toiling and sacrificing my dinner, I managed to make a costume which was truly a masterpiece. It took me a while to believe that I had actually made it.

However, the challenge was not over yet. I had to write a limerick on brinjal. For this task, I wanted to have an easy way out. Also, I didn't want the technical writer within me to rack her brains on writing something from scratch. So, I decided to plagiarize a limerick on brinjal from the internet. I tried to be creative though and deleted a few lines from the original limerick.

Here's the edited version:

"I am a brinjal,
Green and purle,
I am very tasty
Healthy and strong,
If you'll eat me
You will live long"

Although not very impressive, I am happy because my little one is happy. Hoping that the competition goes well on Friday, I am all excited and looking forward to it.

Note: This article was written on 12th March, 2010.

Mission Accomplished!!!

After a long summer vacation, finally arrived the time to get back to school; a time that every child dreads. As good parents, me and my hubby took on a mission to mentally prepare our son, Aditya for "D" day. For succeeding in this mission, we both started narrating beautiful stories about school to Adi almost 10 days before "D" day. Though the little brat did not fall prey to our stories initially but eventually he did seem to understand whatever we told him. Igniting the excitement of going to school in Adi's mind also boosted our excitement of making up more feel-good stories about his school. We continued this exercise till the eve of 14th June. This year, thankfully, 13th June fell on a Sunday. As our weekly routine, me, my hubby and Adi visited my parents that evening. After the entire family got together for the evening tea, my brother casually asked Adi, "So, are you going to school tomorrow?". To which Adi said "Yes" in full excitement. On his reply, me and my hubby exchanged glances of satisfaction and eagerly awaited for the next morning where our actual challenge would begin.

In the previous academic year, the school had conferred Adi with the "Late comer" title. Hence to ensure that he is not honoured with the same title in Sr. K. G. again, I set the alarm for 7:00 a.m. before we could retire for the day. Though I half-slept through the night, I woke up at the buzz of the alarm realizing that finally 14th June had dawned.

After getting the tea and breakfast ready and after a few household chores, I started waking Adi at 8:00 a.m. He too acted stubborn and did not respond much to my constant whines. Finally, I had to carry him and put him in the bath tub. After smearing some toothpaste on the toothbrush, I scrubbed his teeth to turn them sparkling white. Then, after his quick bath, I dressed him in his crisp uniform. Since the little fellow does not understand the concept of time, he took his own sweet time to have his breakfast. The clock kept ticking while the little fellow finished his breakfast royally and soon it was 9:00 a.m. My heart sanked at the thought of Adi being conferred the "late comer" title again this year. So, I forcibly snatched his breakfast plate and put on his socks and shoes. At that moment, Adi began complaining about stomach pain and cough without realizing that such excuses were overused and no longer in vogue. Without paying much heed to his excuses, me and my hubby rushed to the car along with Adi. My hubby started the car, while I and Adi jammed ourselves into the car. My hubby zoomed the car and soon we were at the school gate. We just made it in time; albeit 2-3 minutes late for the 9:15 class.

In the school compound, I could see many children crying. Suddenly, the clouds also accompanied them and soon it began pouring heavily. I opened my umbrella and rushed to the K. G. section along with Adi. Though, Adi gave me a tough time in the morning, he eventually accepted the fact of going to school and did not cry at all. At the entrance of the K. G. section, a familiar face, the K. G. section supervisor greeted the children with a broad smile. Seeing Adi, she called out his name and guided him to his classroom. Adi too wore a beautiful smile and finally settled down with his classmates. After I anxiously waited outside for 2 hours for the class to end and after a brief parents meet, the 1st day at school ended on a happy note for me and Aditya. Mission accomplished!! :)